GA New Member - Newly Diagnosed, Scared, and Overwhelmed

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SamiAndHercules

SamiAndHercules

Member Since 2023
Good morning everyone,

My name is Sami and I am 33 years old. I live in a rural area 45 minutes from the nearest vet.

My male cat Hercules is 11 years old this summer. He has always appeared to be a healthy and loving cat, with no chronic health problems. He goes for his annual checkup and shots every year.

We saw his energy levels decline, and he began eating less last week. He was diagnosed with diabetes during an emergency vet visit yesterday morning. We went to the vet due to seizures/shakes/paralysis, which he has never gotten before. The seizures and shakes continue and make it difficult for him to eat or drink.

Hercules is also suffering an eye infection and is on two kinds of antibiotics. The doctor said he was anemic, emaciated, and dehydrated at our visit yesterday. He was given fluids via IV. He was prescribed 2 units of ProZinc insulin twice daily, and they showed me how to do the shots, but did not explain hypoglycemia or anything else about his diabetes diagnosis. After reading some of the introductory information on this site, and seeing the seizures continue, I am scared that this insulin prescription seems high and may be hurting instead of helping.

Hercules currently cannot eat a full can of wet food without my physically supporting his body and holding his food bowl in place. He starts out supporting himself okay, but his front legs quickly give out. This progresses to twitchy movements of his jaw and swinging his head, which progresses to a full fit. He needs a long rest and his legs remain paralyzed for several minutes after a fit.

This morning, over the course of two hours (6a-8a), he was able to eat about half a can of Fancy Feast classic pate (chicken). Last night around 11p, over the course of about one hour, he was able to get through a full can of Fancy Feast classic pate (chicken and beef). I am giving him water from a dropper multiple times an hour.

When at his relative best, he appears weak and disoriented. He gets up and starts walking in a random direction, then stops and comes back as if he's forgotten what he was doing. I have carried him to the litter box a few times and he goes pee while we are there. He has not had any accidents outside the litterbox.

I work from home, and I am able to monitor him fairly closely, but I do have a job that requires somewhat dedicated attention, and I must answer work messages promptly and attend zoom meetings.

Edit to add: he was previously on a dry food diet

Edits to bring answered questions to the top of the post:
Glucose and white blood cells were very high.
We saw our regular vet for an emergency appt.
The vet did request to keep him for two days, but I could not afford the estimated cost of hospitalization.
We have a follow-up next Monday.
There are some items circled on the bloodwork papers, which are also posted in the thread
HCT - 29.3%
WBC - 47.79 K/uL
GLU - 582 mg/dL
 
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Hi Sami welcome to the FDMB. I am sorry to hear about Hercules and his troubles, it sounds quite awful and very upsetting to see your beloved boy in such distress. As the experts on here come into this thread and give you info and advice be warned -- it is going to be a TON of stuff. Take it slow, digest it....don't get too worried about figuring it all out it will get easier with time. It is a bit of an information overload at first.

The weakness and seizures are not something I have any experience with, my 10-year-old sugar kitty never had that. Sometimes, after being diabetic for a while, the high blood glucose starts to cause issues such as neuropathy, which is most often seen in the way the cat walks, a weakening of their legs and stability. What you describe does sound like that, somewhat, just a good bit worse than we usually see. There is a Methyl B-12 supplement that many people say helps the neuropathy dramatically which you might want to try.

Starting on 2U is kind of high imo, most vets seem to start with 1 unit 2X/day. I would highly recommend you get a blood glucose monitor, test strips, and learn how to check Hercules' blood glucose levels at home, by getting a blood droplet from the edge of an ear. It sounded completely impossible to me a year ago, but we eventually got the hang of it with a ton of help from the kind folks here at the FDMB and after some time my kitty would actually go to the spot we always used to test and sit and wait for the test, hopeful and happy - because he knew he got tasty freeze-dried treats after the poke!

With you working from home you are in a great position to be able to check his BG (blood glucose) regularly and that is a huge win for both of you. The best thing you can do for Hercules is set up a tracking spreadsheet to record his numbers and so you have data. It takes some time to have enough data to know what the insulin dose is doing and how to adjust it best.
 
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Welcome to FDMB.

Sami - did the emergency vet run any blood work or urinalysis? Quite frankly, the symptoms you're describing are not typical for diabetes unless your cat's blood glucose levels are very, very high. I am particularly concerned as to whether there are ketones present. Do you know if they ran a fructosamine test? This is a blood test that tells you if the cat's blood glucose levels have been high for a period of weeks. If Hercules has an eye infection, it may be the infection that's causing a rise in blood glucose. I'd also want to be sure there's no indication of kidney disease (SDMA is a test that's predictive of kidney issues along with other lab values) or cardiac problems (a BNP level is a blood test that can be done).

To be honest, if he's continuing to have seizures and any form of muscle weakness/paralysis, I'm surprised the vet didn't hospitalize your cat to keep him under observation.

Just an FYI, some of the antibiotics can really make a kitty feel lousy.
 
You can call the vet and ask for the lab results to be sent to you. If the ER vet is closed, they may have sent the lab results to your regular vet. This will give you and us more information. There's something else going on. DKA is a possibility and needs to be treated urgently. Or it could be something else. Call your vet, let them know the situation and have them on standby.

Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
Staring on 2U is kind of high imo, most vets seem to start with 1 unit 2X/day. I would highly recommend you get a blood glucose monitor,
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Do you have a friend or relative close by who is a diabetic and can come over with their meter and test Hercules?
 
I have a copy of the bloodwork, but it is multiple pages with a lot of acronyms, and I am not sure how to read it. And I apologize for the lack of clarity - we did not go to an emergency facility, it was an emergency situation but our regular vet handled it.

Glucose and white blood cells were very high. I think he said heart and liver seemed okay. We have a follow-up next Monday. There are some items circled on the bloodwork papers:
HCT - 29.3%
WBC - 47.79 K/uL
GLU - 582 mg/dL

They did request to keep him for two days, but I could not afford the estimated cost of hospitalization. :(
 
Thanks @Sienne and Gabby (GA) and @Red & Rover (GA) , I meant to mention ketones and DKA in my post but forgot. Some of the behavior does remind me of when Hendrick went into DKA -- he was sort of zoned out, would wander over to the water bowl and just sit there in front of it, kind of wavering back and forth. But nothing to the extremes that Hercules is presenting.

Hospitalization is super expensive I sympathize. Hendrick's 2-night stay cost $4400 and that was a year ago!

@SamiAndHercules if you can take pics of the bloodwork then drag-n-drop or copy-n-paste them into a post, people can read them and give you feedback. The upload feature on this site is broken it will give you a permissions error. Have to drag-n-drop or copy/paste into a post.
 
Here are the bloodwork pictures. Thank you everyone for your kind responses.
 

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Hercules is still experiencing fits. I feel very upset and powerless to help him.

I can go into town to find a glucose monitor, but it will take me two hours or more, and he would be alone.

I’ve decided to give the vet a call, though i’m afraid they won’t help me since i couldn’t hospitalize him.

Updating here because I don’t want to repeatedly bump my post. The vet says I’ll likely need to wait 3-5 days to see improvements in the seizures. :’(

With this new information, I have decided to find hercules a comfortable place to rest and go into town for the glucose monitor.
 
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If you have a Walmart by you It's a human meter less expensive than a pet meter and the strips are a lot cheaper. You can even order them on the internet from Walmart
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars is fine
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197
Lancets get 26 or 28 gauge lancets any brand will do
Some cotton rounds to put behind the ear so you don't poke yourself then fold it over the cats ear to stop the bleeding for about 10 seconds
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar, Janet is using a pet meter which has to be coded , a human meter does not

Here is another link to read
This is a link to one of our posts on home testing.
 
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SamiAndHercules said:
Hercules is still experiencing fits. I feel very upset and powerless to help him.
Click to expand...
This is so heartbreaking, one if my kitties used to have seizures, vet didn't know why but they kept happening, he was put in phenobarbital , and at one point it wasn't helping that much so she had to add Keppra with it
Levetiracetam (lev-eh-teer-ASS-eh-tam) is the generic name (non-brand name) for the drug called Keppra.

I would discuss this with your vet if he continues to keep having them
 
Second page under urinalysis shows KET negative, so negative ketones. Same page has high PRO (protein), did the vet say anything about that? The notes on the lab say possible proteinuria. Any chance vet did a blood pressure test?

What kind of antibiotics is Hercules on? The high WBC is an indicator of infection.

Did the vet say anything about treating the anemia (low HCT)?

I notice his phosphorus is high too. The Fancy Feast are rather high in phosphorus. Do you have any pet food stores nearby? We could possible suggest some low carb foods with lower phosphorus. Or you could make your own.

Two other tests I was looking for are potassium (K) and T4 (test of thyroid) but I don's see them there. Were the tests done in house at the vet?
 
Thank you very much for analyzing the papers. I don’t believe we did blood pressure. Vet mentioned he is anemic but didn’t elaborate. Nothing about the phosphorus or high protein was mentioned. I believe these papers have all the tests that were done, and tests were done in house. I was allowed to wait for the results in the waiting room. I did not see them or take the samples for the tests. They carried him away to another room.

Nothing is less than 30 minutes from me, but of course i will go into town to get whatever he needs. My boss has been supportive and allowed me to go offline early today. I may be able to get different food in the morning. I wanted to pick up something high carb anyway after reading the hypo sticky.

I’m emotionally exhausted at the moment and Hercules is sleeping in my arms. I don’t think we’re going to poke and prod tonight, but i will be sure to update you all tomorrow.

thank you again, so much
 
I’m so sorry everyone, Hercules passed on this morning after a very difficult night. I’m so sorry for bringing this here to burden you.
 
SamiAndHercules said:
I’m so sorry everyone, Hercules passed on this morning after a very difficult night. I’m so sorry for bringing this here to burden you.
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Sami,

I want to be very clear on this point -- you did not burden anyone and have nothing to be sorry about. I have been here at the FDMB, off and on, for over a year and we see all kinds of cat stories where kitties are in extreme distress. Many times, advice is offered, suggestions are made, and then we never hear from the person ever again. I appreciate you checking in and letting us know the outcome even if it was not the outcome we hoped for.

To be perfectly honest I had a feeling Hercules could be on his last legs based on what you described. I imagine the infections were ultimately too much for his little body to overcome. It is also quite possible that even if you had the money, hospitalization would not have saved him seeing as he was struggling so.

I am so sorry for your loss, fly high Hercules no longer in pain or suffering, he is chasing butterflies and leaves beyond the Rainbow Bridge, wishing you happy cuddles from above.


dammit where's that tissue box @Diane Tyler's Mom :(

I am going to go hug every single one of our little rascals and tell them how much I love them.
 
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I am so sorry for your loss, and so glad that he got to spend his last moments at home with someone who cares so deeply about him. You did everything you could.
 
I am so sorry for your loss. He was so lucky to have someone who cared so deeply about him. Please do not apologize for coming here, you were looking for help during a difficult time. We've all been there. Sending you lots of love and hugs.
 
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